THE rebirth of MG Rover after more than a year on the sidelines is gathering impressive pace - halfway around the world in China.

Building work on Nanjing's sprawling new factory in the Far East is well under way following a nine-month "lift and shift" operation from Longbridge.

A total of 4,500 giant containers have shipped 10,000 tons of plant, tools and machinery across the world in advance of Nanjing's plans to relaunch car production in China and the UK next year.

Meanwhile, construction work is continuing on the new factory in Nanjing which will pave the way for production of the new Rover 45 and 25 models and Powertrain engines in China.

Nanjing hopes that the Chinese factory will produce up to 200,000 cars and 250,000 engines a year, with a launch over the next 12 months.

Nanjing renewed its lease on the Longbridge site for 33 years in February, with a get-out clause which expires on August 22. But hopes that the Chinese firm will not activate the get-out clause have been raised with the news that the company plans to recruit up to 400 workers at Longbridge by the autumn in advance of an early 2007 resumption of production.

Paul Stowe, a 35-year-old former quality strategy worker at Longbridge, took the plunge after the closure of the Birmingham car plant last April to move out to China to head quality for the Nanjing company.

Mr Stowe, married with two children, said: "It was an unnerving feeling to begin with.

"Obviously, we all have a wish that this project was happening in England but now I see it as the rebirth of MG and MG's future.

"The Chinese are experts at doing this and we're very confident that it will all go back together and we'll start producing again in the next 12 months."

Nanjing bought MG Rover for #53 million in July last year after the car firm collapsed with the loss of more than 6,000 jobs.

A Transport and General Workers' Union spokesman said: "Nanjing was always going to move the fabric of its car production to China.

"The important thing is that it fulfils the promises to resume car production in the UK too."